Page 35 of Embers

Our plan decided with our typical efficiency, I put the truck back into drive and get us moving. I pick up speed quickly—as fast as I can go on this terrain—and Cal hangs out the passenger window and starts shooting as soon as he’s close enough.

He wings three of the attackers before they can even turn around.

A few of them shoot back at us eventually but only for a few seconds. Soon they all retreat, racing off the road and disappearing into the foliage. A minute later, three ATVs take off with the teenagers piled on them.

I pull the pickup to a stop next to the other one on the road. A handsome black man in Army fatigues stands up from behind the other vehicle, his rifle still poised but not aimed at us. He eyes us closely. He’s like us. He’s not going to trust anyone without good reason.

“They’re gone,” Cal says.

“We won’t hurt you,” I add since the other man is eyeing Cal warily.

For good reason. Cal is big and tough and dangerous-looking.

“Looked like you needed help.” Strangers wouldn’t know this, but this is Cal being friendly.

“We did,” the man says, glancing back toward where the attackers had driven away. “We really appreciate it. They were just kids.” He reaches down and helps a woman to her feet. “I’m Mack. And this is Anna.”

Anna is white with curly reddish hair and a pretty, open face. She looks pale, but her smile is sincere as she comes out from behind the truck to greet us. “I thought for sure we were going to die. Thank you so much.”

“Glad we could help,” I say. “Are y’all just passing through?”

“Yeah. We’re on our way to meet someone.” Anna is doing the talking now—mostly to me. The two men are still staring each other down. “Mack’s just here to drop me off, like he always seems to get stuck doing.”

“Don’t be like that,” Mack says dryly, giving Anna a narrow-eyed look. Then he turns back to me. “Y’all live around here?”

“Couple hours away,” I reply, keeping it vague so Cal doesn’t get annoyed. “Where are you trying to get to?”

“We’ve only got about thirty miles to go.” Mack’s brown eyes aren’t cold, but they’re as sharp as knives. He doesn’t miss anything in his assessment of me and Cal. “You look like you know what you’re doing. You wouldn’t have time to come with us, would you? We could use your help. The truck’s tires are blown, and it’s full of bullet holes. Not sure how far we’ll get on foot.”

I’m surprised by the question. Most people don’t even ask things like that anymore. But I already like these people, and my instincts are very rarely wrong. I want to answer, but I turn to Cal first. I’m not going to push it if he thinks it’s a bad idea.

He looks at me too, and we share an unspoken conversation. He isn’t thrilled with the plan, but he’s willing to do it if it’s what I want.

So I say, “Yeah, we can probably do that, as long as it’s not too far out of our way. We’ve already been away from home for a few days.”

“Shouldn’t be more than thirty miles.” Mack is smiling. It’s warm and real and transforms his face. “We’d sure appreciate it.”

“Fine,” Cal mutters, nodding toward our truck. “Let’s get goin’ then. Get your stuff and jump in the back. I’ll get whatever gas you’ve got left in the truck.”

Cal siphons off the gas from the shot-up pickup into ours while Mack and Anna gather their supplies. I climb into the back of the truck with them since I want to talk to them more.

I’ve interacted with more people lately than I used to, but it still feels new and exciting to socialize.

When Cal starts driving, the first thing Anna asks me is, “So is he your man or your dad?”

I blink at her, startled by the question. It actually takes me a minute to figure out an answer. “Um, neither. Not really. We’re… kind of like family.”

It doesn’t sound right. It feels like Cal and I are more than that. He hasn’t touched me since we’ve been on the road. He never does except in our cabin after the sun goes down. And he resolutely refuses to fuck me or kiss me. But in every way that matters to me, he’s still my man.

The only one I want.

Just because other people might think it’s weird or dirty somehow doesn’t make it less meaningful to me.

But he wants people to think we’re family, and there’s no reason for me to not go along with that. It’s a vague, harmless way to describe our relationship. And honestly, it’s no one else’s business who Cal and I are to each other.

The three of us chat in the bed of the truck as Cal drives. I learn that Anna was a high school English teacher in a small town in the mountains of Virginia, and she migrated with the rest of her town to Fort Knox. Mack was a soldier in the Army—stationed there before Impact and helping to defend it as people fled there for safety until the drove hit it last year and he had to scatter with everyone else. He and Anna are evidently not together as a couple, but they still meet up sometimes.

I give them the bare bones of my own story because they were willing to share theirs. I’m not used to opening up with anyone but Cal, but it seems only fair to tell them something in return.

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